Ep 014 - Technological Solutions for fighting Climate Change

Dr. Richard Nolthenius has a background in thermal engineering
and astronomy. He currently runs the Astronomy Program at Cabrillo
College, Santa Cruz California. He also lecturers and has been a
visiting researcher for UC Santa Cruz since 1987. He describes his
professional transition in to climate science as “quite a shock,
not necessarily a pleasant one”!

Dr. Nolthenius suggests that Professor Tim Garrett’s work on
linking global wealth and energy consumption has not been given the
attention it deserves, Dr. Nolthenius also concludes that the only
way to advert the increasingly critical climate change situation is
in line with Prof. Garretts publications and therefore requires
sharp, rapid cuts to our use of fossil fuels.

To achieve this end Dr. Nolthenius has compiled a list of 7
Policy Mechanisms which he will discuss in Part
one. These include:

Tax and Dividend

End government subsidies to fossil fuel companies

Trade sanctions against all countries who do not enact Tax and
Dividend or end fossil fuel subsidies.

Devise an efficient mechanism to impose Tax/Dividend on all
externalized costs.

Tax consumption, not income.

End Child Tax Credit, and promote policies which economically
discourage population growth.

Amend the Constitution.

Dr. Nolthenius explains exactly what the above may involve, and
discusses ideas for getting them implemented with a million person
Occupy DC movement.

In Part Two Dr. Nolthenius highlights potential
technological ‘band aids’ (and their short falls) which could
potentially be implemented alongside the Policy Mechanisms
discussed in Part 1. These include:

Dr. Nolthenius also points out how even if we ended all our
carbon emissions today, the effect of Thermal Inertia would still
cause global temperatures to rise.

Part 3 covers GeoEngineering including:

Permafrost Carbon

How do we choose?

Solar Radiation Management

‘Butterflies’

Asteroids with dust secretion

Reflective Aerosols

Refreezing the Artic using pumped sea water.

‘Loan Shark’ methods that won’t work long term

Why there is no ‘Magic Bullet’

Finally, in Part 3 Dr. Nolthenius takes some time to explain how
economics is related to climate change, and why we need to stop our
obsession with Growth. The work of Prof. Tim Garrett / “The
Garrett Relation” is expanded upon and discussed.

Reference is made by Dr Noltheius to "E.C.S", although not
covered in the series this stands for Equilibrium Climate
Sensitivity. More information on this is available in Dr
Noltheniuss presentation 'Earth Climate Change in One (very long)
Lecture' available here: https://www.cabrillo.edu/~rnolthenius/Apowers/ClimateInOne.pptx

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We aim to cover the critical scientific research on climate change and it's implications for humanity. We also discuss Environmental topics within Politics and Business, as well as campaign groups such as VHEMT. Episodes are released monthly and available via iTunes or any other podcast provider of choice.
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